Strangled by the Red String
by Beyond-BB-Birthday
Summary: Abed has one more thing to check off his List of College Experiences... Troy/Abed, based on S1E22, spoilers for that episode.


"Cleaning up after the food fight is a lot less fun than the actual food fight," Troy commented as he tried to get peanut butter out of his hair.

Abed agreed and finished wiping tomato sauce off his hands. "I got spaghetti on my toga," he noted forlornly. "I was hoping to reuse it, either for Halloween or for my Ancient History presentation next week."

Troy looked down at his own toga and then back to the dorm's bathroom mirror. "You can have mine, it's pretty much clean. I never want to see this thing again in my life."

The Arab cocked an eyebrow. "Why not? I thought you liked costumes."

"I do. Usually." He grabbed a new paper towel from the dispenser and wiped chocolate pudding off his feet. "But I didn't like doing 'college stuff' just for the sake of doing 'college stuff', y'know?"

"I understand. It was too forced."

Troy nodded and threw away the pile of paper towels that had accumulated on the counter. "You didn't really make out with the hottest girl at Greendale, did you?" he asked with a sly smirk.

Abed smirked back. "Yep."

"Who?"

"Y'know the girl in our biology class with the blonde hair who sits diagonally behind you to the right with the crooked smile?" Troy took a moment to mentally configure the bio room's layout before remembering the girl and nodding. "That's her."

The younger man's eyes widened. "No!" Abed nodded. "How?"

"Like I said, I'm pretty adorable."

Troy chuckled and led the way out of the washroom. "I guess so. I'm gonna have to learn to be 'adorable'."

Without missing a beat, Abed replied, "But you are."

Troy stopped mid-step and turned to his friend. "Really?"

Abed opened his room's door and entered, not noticing Troy's pause. "Of course."

After a moment, Troy followed him into the room. "Well, thanks, Abed."

"You're welcome."

The two changed out of their togas into their regular clothes and breathed a sigh of conclusion. Another week, another sitcom-like adventure, Abed thought as they sat down on the couch. He symbolically balled up his list of college experiences and threw it in the wastebasket at the foot of his bed and tried to lay the concept to rest. It's too bad Troy didn't want to help him with his list any more – he still had a few fun ones to try. He mentally reminded himself to be on the lookout for opportunities to streak, participate in a rap battle and get in a fistfight.

And then there was that other one he'd been dying to check off…

"What now?" Troy asked. "Movie?"

Abed snapped out of his thoughts and nodded. "Sure. _Star Wars_ marathon?"

Troy raised an eyebrow. "We just watched _Star Wars_ last weekend."

"Oh yeah. I forgot." Abed frowned, recalling the exact marathon to which Troy was referring. "What about _Harry Potter_?" he suggested anew.

His friend crossed his arms and gave Abed a suspicious look. "You know I can't watch _Harry Potter_! The Death Eaters give me nightmares. What's wrong? You seem… distracted."

Abed shook his head. "It's nothing." Why was he distracted? Just because of his college experiences list going unfulfilled? Well, he couldn't keep making stupid comments like this. Something had to be done. "Want to help me with one last college experience, Troy?"

Troy raised his eyebrows. "What is it?"

"Close your eyes."

A wary look. "You're not gonna pants me again, are you?" Abed shook his head 'no'. Troy sighed and agreed, closing his eyes. Abed didn't miss a beat in leaning forward and pressing his lips against Troy's.

Troy's eyes snapped open and he jerked away from his best friend. "What the hell, Abed?!" he cried suddenly. "What was that?"

Abed kept his face stoic and emotionless. "It was on my list."

"What, to freak out your best friend?" Troy demanded, standing up and walking over to the garbage bin on the floor. He picked out Abed's list from the pile of papers in it and un-balled it. He scanned the list.

"It's the last one," Abed supplied helpfully, standing up and approaching his friend as if to help him find it.

Troy found the item in question and looked back up to his friend. "Y-you love me?" he asked quietly.

Abed nodded and desperately tried to keep his face detached. Troy stared at him for another moment before tossing the piece of paper on the table. "I," he began, "uh…"

He couldn't help himself. "Suspense. Good idea."

Troy smiled at Abed's comment and kissed him softly. Abed, having studied many a romance film in his day, thought he knew everything there was to know about these types of situations. It had helped him with the girl from their bio class. It had helped him through every kiss of his life. (All three of them!) But now, when it mattered most, Abed was helpless. His vast knowledge of romance flew out the window and he tried not to fall over in shock.

Luckily, Troy seemed to know what he was doing. He gently placed a hand on Abed's shoulder, cautious, as if afraid of scaring him off. Abed finally snapped out of it, relaxed, and wrapped his arms around Troy's waist.

Abed tried to remember how to breathe through his nose and French kiss at the same time. A moment later they broke apart and tried to catch their breaths.

Troy smiled shyly. "I love you too, man."

"I figured," Abed replied with a half-smile of his own. "I didn't think you'd kiss me and then say you _didn't _love me."

Troy laughed. "Well, I guess you can check that off the list now, right?" Abed nodded and picked up said list and a pen from his coffee table.

"Kiss someone I love. Check," he said dramatically, striking the page with the pen in a checkmark. "Thanks, Troy."

"Happy to help, bro."

Abed took the cue and kissed him again.

* * *

A/N: Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaame. I'm sorry. This is really bad. I'll hang my head in shame now.

BTW the title is from TV Tropes XD


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